"Madame Laumaille"

Madame Laumaille as a passenger at Spa in 1896

"Madame Laumaille", whose name may have been Marie Laumaille, was one of the earliest recorded woman racing drivers. 

She was French and married to Albert Laumaille, a racing cyclist, long-distance rider and early exponent of motor racing. Marie also had a background in cycling and motor touring, alongside her husband. From the 1880s onwards, they covered long distances together, with Albert on his bicycle and Marie on a pedal tricycle.

It is unclear when Marie first tried a motor vehicle for herself, but there are certainly pictures of her riding alongside Albert in a decorated car for a "battle of the flowers" parade at their home town of Nice in 1896. Before this, even, they used a Peugeot "quadricycle" for a tour of France in 1893, although it is not stated whether both drove.

She was 27th overall in the 1898 Marseille-Nice trial, a two-day road race. Her vehicle was a De Dion motorised tricycle. The publication "La Vie au Grand Air" told of how she had already ridden 15,000km on bicycles and tricycles. The first leg of the race ran between Marseille and Hyeres and she was second in class. By the end of the race the following day at Nice, she was fourth in the motorcycle class. Reports at the time suggest that she had been tipped to win, had her tricycle's chain not broken. Albert was sixth. 

Shortly after, she is reported as having entered a Nice Puget-Theniers-Entrevaux-Paget race, but it ended for her when she came off her tricycle trying to avoid a child who had run in front of her. She suffered cuts to her face and, according to some sources, a broken jaw, and had to be taken to hospital. Despite this, she was still believed to be competing actively afterwards, with La semaine nicoise newspaper mentioning a proposed match race with another woman in a December issue that year. 

Although not a competitive run, Marie and Albert's arrival in Paris after a trip from Nice in 1899 was reported in the newspapers. In the summer, they drove from Nice to Aix-le Bains together with a friend named Fernandez, before setting off on a longer tour.

Albert died in 1901, bringing an end to their joint adventures. Madame Laumaille's life after that is unknown.

Ladies, Start Your Engines!

June 11th marks 120 years since a woman first raced a motor vehicle in an official event.

Léa Lemoine won the Championnat des Chauffeuses at Longchamp racecourse, from seven other women. All of them drove De Dion-engined tricycles. You can read more about the Championnat here, and about some of the chauffeuses, including Léa, here.

This was no one-off. Later in 1897, Léa drove her tricycle in the Coupe des Motocycles. In 1898, Madame Laumaillé drove her own De Dion tricycle in the Marseille-Nice Trial. Every year since then, women have raced cars or motorcycles, somewhere in the world, with the possible exception of during part of the Second World War, when no-one raced at all.

Speedqueens are active in every continent of the world, in circuit racing and rallying, every week of the year. Here's to another 120 years!

The Earliest Women's Races

Ellen Jouanny and a De Dion motor tricycle

Events for women drivers have existed almost since the earliest days of motorsport.

Le Championnat des Chauffeuses

In 1897, the first known ladies’ race was held at the Longchamps racecourse, in Paris. It was billed as the “Championnat des Chauffeuses” (Women Drivers’ Championship), and was held as part of a race meeting for those involved in showbusiness. Among the entrants were a vaudeville actress (Ellen Jouanny) and a costume designer (Léa Lemoine). These events would later become the "Championnat des Artistes". In the early days, they mainly consisted of bicycle races, which some of the "chauffeuses" also entered. It was organised by the Paris Echo newspaper.

Eight women competed, riding De Dion motorised tricycles. The format of the event consisted of three elimination runs, of one lap each, and a final, of two laps. The results were as follows:

Heat 1

1. Léa Lemoine

2. Ellen Jouanny

3. Jane Boié

Heat 2

1. “Bossu”

2. Germaine Doverne

3. Hélène Darbell

Heat 3

1. De Grandval

2. “Hellé”

Final

1.  Léa Lemoine

2.  De Grandval

3.   “Bossu”

The competitors all received prizes, with the winner, Léa Lemoine, being presented with a bracelet.

The Championnat was run at least three times, between 1897 and 1899. Some of the drivers, including Léa Lemoine, returned for all three editions. Later events were open to cyclecars as well as tricycles.

The Ranelagh Automobile Gymkhana

In July, 1900, the first ladies’ race in the UK was held at the Ranelagh Club in Barnes, London. It was part of the Ranelagh Automobile Gymkhana, which comprised of a series of races, challenges and motorised games. The race was run on a course a little less than a mile long, and consisted of a single lap. The results were as follows:

1. Miss Weblyn (6hp Daimler “Parisian”)

2. Mrs. Edward Kennard (De Dion Voiturette)

3. Miss M. Lloyd-Price (4hp Panhard)

DNF: Miss Vera Butler (6hp Panhard)

Vera Butler also took part in the “Starting and Stopping Handicap” later on.

For a long time, there was some confusion around this race, as “Weblyn” was written down somewhere as “Wemblyn”, making it hard to verify her existence.

The Gymkhana was not a one-off, and more ladies’ races were held. In 1904, a ladies' race was organised, but as only one driver, Mrs. George Thrupp, turned up, she was awarded the prize in a walkover. After this, the Gymkhana appears to have become an official event of the Ladies' Automobile Club, the first all-female car club in the UK. They held gymkhanas at Ranelagh in 1905 and 1906, at least.

The USA
The earliest women's race in the USA seems to have been held at Washington Park in Chicago, in September 1900. The track was a mile-long dirt oval. Two women took part, but the make and model of their cars is not recorded. They may well have been electric vehicles, which were considered suitable for female drivers. A driver with the same surname as Jeanette Lindstrom is also recorded in an electric car race at the same meeting. The race was run over two laps.

Results:

1. Miss Jeanette Lindstrom
2. Miss M.E. Ryan

The Brooklands Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap
The original proprietors of Brooklands were not overly keen on female drivers, but in 1908, a Ladies’ Race was put on for them. Ethel Locke-King, one of the leading drivers, was the wife of Hugh Locke-King, the owner of Brooklands, and helped to run the track, despite not being allowed to drive on it competitively. Seven women entered the Handicap, but only five made it to the start.

Results:

1. Muriel Thompson (Austin “Pobble”)

2. Ethel Locke-King (Itala)

3. Christabel Ellis (Arrol-Johnston “Guarded Flame”)

4. Mrs J. Roland Hewitt (De Dion)

5. Nelly Ridge-Jones (Sunbeam)

DNS: Lady Muriel Gore-Brown (Humber)

DNS: Ada Billing (Mors)

Later, at the August Bank Holiday meeting, a Match Race was held between Muriel Thompson and Christabel Ellis, which was again won by Muriel Thompson.

(I am grateful to Grace’s Guide [www.gracesguide.co.uk] for information.)

Victorian and Edwardian racers

Christabel Ellis

This post lists the earliest pioneer female racing drivers not already profiled, who competed between 1897 and 1910. Camille du Gast, Muriel Thompson, Maud Manville, Dorothy Levitt, Daisy Hampson, "Madame Laumaille" and Joan Newton Cuneo have their own posts. American racers from shortly after this period can be found here. The earliest female-only races are discussed here. During this period, there were few opportunities to enter races, so most of these women made only a few appearances at the wheel. Opportunities for motor racing generally increased after the war.

Countess Elsa d'Albrizzi - finished ninth in the 1899 Padua-Vicenza-Thiene-Bassano-Trevisio-Padua Trail, driving a Benz light car. This makes her the first woman to finish in the top ten of a motor race.

Louise Bazalgette – probably the first British female racing driver. She entered the 1000 Mile Trial in 1900, driving a 3hp Benz. She did not complete the whole trial, but was awarded a silver medal for her performance in one of the sections. Even earlier than this, she was featured in the British newspapers for her frequent motoring exploits and enthusiasm for cars. She continued to appear in speed trials occasionally after 1900, including the 1903 Bexhill-on-Sea trial.

“Madame le Blon” (Motann?) – best known as a riding mechanic to her husband, Hubert le Blon, who helped him to sixth place in the 1906 Targa Florio. She also rode with him in hillclimbs, in either a Serpollet, or a Hotchkiss. In 1903, plans were announced in the press for her to race her own Serpollet car. That year, she was third in a beach race at Deauville, out of sixty drivers. Her given name is never used. “Motann” may be a forename, or her maiden name.

Jane Dhasty - raced a Peugeot in France in 1899. She was second in the two-seater touring car class in the Nice-Magagnosc-Nice road race and the Nice-Castellane-Puget Theniers-Nice race the day before. She also entered the Peugeot into concours d’elegance events, an account of which gives the forename “Jane”. She was almost certainly an actress and singer who had risen to fame a few years before.

Gertrude Eisenmann (Rodda) - Anglo-German racer who competed in Weimar Germany. She began as a cyclist, moving to motorbikes with a good deal of success and then cars. In 1905, she won a road trial between Eisenach and Berlin and back again, and in 1906, she competed in the Solitude hillclimb, although both of these may have been in the motorcycle class. She entered the 1908 Herkomer Trial in a Horch car, but her finishing position is not forthcoming.

Christabel Ellis - drove an Arrol-Johnston at Brooklands. She led most of the Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap in 1908, but eventually lost to Muriel Thompson and Ethel Locke-King. Earlier, she competed in hillclimbs and speed trials in a friction-drive GWK cyclecar, alongside her cousin, Mary Ellis. Later, in about 1912, the two may have ridden a motorcycle combination together in hillclimbs. Christabel was certainly associated with motorcycles later; during the First World War, she was a Commandant in the transport section of the Women's Legion, in charge of female motorcyle dispatch riders.

“Mrs Clarence Cecil Fitler” - successful early American racer. In 1905, she won two races at the Cape May beach track. The races were over a kilometre distance, with a flying start. Her car was a 28hp Packard. She was the only female entrant. These were her only two race appearances. Although she was meant to race against Joan Newton Cuneo at Atlantic City, later in 1905, she did not do so. She returned to equestrian competition, in which she had some success.

Victoria Godwin – raced in the UK between 1905 and 1907. In her first year of competition, she took part in the Brighton Speed Trials, driving an Ariel Simplex. She worked for the Ariel factory, and acted as a spokeswoman and works driver. Between 1905 and 1907, she took part in trials for Ariel, including the London-John O’Groats Trial, and an overland journey from Paris to St Petersburg. In speed trials, she set a record of two miles in 1 minute 43 seconds.

Muriel Hind – most famous for racing motorcycles. She was the first British woman to do so, in 1905, having learned to ride in 1902. In 1905, she drove a Gnome in the Brighton Speed Trials, in the Touring class. She often used a Singer Tricar three-wheeler for trials, including the 1906 London-Edinburgh Trial, the Land’s End-John O’Groats Trial of the same year. She raced motorcycles until about 1910, then concentrated on writing. 

“Madame Labrousse” (or Lambrose) - one of the earliest female racing drivers known. She drove in the 1899 Brussels-Namur-Spa race and finished fifth in the three-seater class. Her car was an 8hp Panhard.

June (or Jane) Larkins – drove a 6hp Wolseley in a series of events in 1905. She is principally known for setting the first ladies’ record at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, making the ascent in about four minutes. The same year, she drove the same car in at least two motor gymkhana events, one at Portsmouth and one at Moseley. These were mostly novelty events, such as towing races, and a “Coach House Race”, in which she was second. She was employed by Wolseley to teach female car buyers how to drive. Like her contemporary, Dorothy Levitt, she started by racing motor boats, again from the Wolseley works.

Claudia Lasell – active, and quite successful, in British motorsport in 1905. She drove a 90hp Mercedes in the inaugural Brighton Speed Trials, winning the Ladies’ Handicap, but losing out to Dorothy Levitt in the Daily Mail Challenge Trophy. She also took part in the Blackpool Speed Trials, in a 120hp Mercedes. At the time, she claimed that she raced for fun, and had no desire to do it professionally. She was an actress and singer of some note. Although she was American, she lived and worked in Europe. Later, in 1913, she caused a small scandal by holding mens’ and womens’ boxing matches at her house parties. 

Léa (or Léo) Lemoine – French woman who was one of the world’s earliest female racing drivers. She took part in three editions of the Championnat des Chauffeuses, the first-ever women’s motor racing championship, and won all three, in 1897, 1898 and 1899. Her usual vehicle was a De Dion-engined Clément tricycle, although she may also have used a cyclecar in 1899. The Championnat was for French ladies of the theatre, and Léa worked with costumes. As well as the Championnat des Chauffeuses, she entered the 1897 Coupe des Motocycles, and finished fifth overall. She also seems to have done some speed runs in Paris parks, and entered the ladies’ race in the 1899 Fête des Automobiles. After 1899, she appears to stop competing. As well as tricycles and cars, she raced bicycles with some success, and took part in roller-skating competitions.

“Mrs Herbert Lloyd” (Elizabeth?) – winner of the Ladies’ Handicap at the 1905 Brighton Speed Trials, driving a Daimler. She beat Maud Manville to the prize. In 1905, she also took part in the Blackpool Speed Trials. In 1906, she won her class at the Longleat Hillclimb, and that year, she was also fifth in the Henry Edmunds Hillclimb in East Sussex. There were ten entrants overall. She does not appear to have raced after 1906.

Eva (Genevra Delphine) Mudge - often described as America’s first female racing driver, Eva Mudge was an actress who became an automotive celebrity in 1900. Mainly, she appeared at motor shows, demonstrating both electric and petrol cars. Her only appearance in a race was the 1901 Dawn of the Century Race, in which cars took on bicycles and runners on a route across New York, between two newspaper offices. Her finishing position is not recorded. The starter for the race was RC Mudge, her father, who worked for the Locomobile company.

“Mrs. H Ernest Rogers” - early American racer who was a rival of Joan Newton Cuneo. She was active throughout 1906, and often drove a 10hp Maxwell, like the one used by Joan Newton Cuneo. At the Ventnor Beach speed trials, she was third in a Gasoline 1-mile trial, won by Joan Newton Cuneo. At the Dead Horse Hill hillclimb, she won three of the trials for stock cars costing under $850 dollars. As well as this, she was invited to more than one match race against Joan Newton Cuneo, one at Atlantic Beach. However, these meetings were usually cancelled at the last minute. After 1906, she seems to disappear. Her given name is never recorded.

Lilli Sternberg - took part in the 1910 Prinz Heinrich Fahrt, driving an Opel. She was said to be the only woman who drove her own car for the full distance. Photographs of her exist in the 1908 trial, accompanied by a male riding mechanic. She was sometimes referred to as Dr Sternberg.

“Madame Bob Walter” - former showgirl who raced in France in the early 1900s. She took part in a match race against a Madame Jolivet in 1902, at Deauville. Her car was a Vinot & Deguingand. She used the same car at the Gaillon hillclimb that year; her time has been lost but she was said to be faster than some of the top drivers of the time. She returned to Deauville in 1903 in a Panhard & Levassor and entered the 500m event. As well as racing cars, “Bob”, real name Baptistine Dupre, was one of the first French women to run a garage of her own. After her racing activities stopped, she used her fleet of hire cars to help in her last enterprise as an arranger of elopements. She died in 1907.

Hélène van Zuylen (Rothschild) - one of the earliest-ever female racing drivers. She entered the Paris-Amsterdam race in 1898, under the nom de course of “Snail”. Her car, whose manufacturer is not usually recorded, broke down very early in the race. Her husband also entered, using the name “Escargot”. In 1901, she and "Escargot" entered a Paris-Berlin race organised by the A.C.F. This is sometimes confused with the "Gordon Bennett" Paris-Berlin race that took place that year, but the route was different, and the drivers a separate group. Again, Hélène did not finish. She had been driving as part of a group which included her husband, and another lady driver, a Madame Gobron.

(Image source unknown)